We live in a world of globalization, a world in which political and commercial realities are the drivers for increasing supply chain efficiencies, accountability and security. One key to achieving gains in all three areas lies in the area of traceability. For the global food industry, supply chain traceability is, today, more than ever, a high visibility issue. Traceability is the ability to trace the history, application or location. Whole-chain food traceability is comprised of both “tracking” and “tracing”. “Tracking” is the ability to follow the path of a traceable item through the supply chain as it moves between parties. “Tracing” is the ability to identify the origin, attributes, or history of a particular traceable item located within the supply chain by reference to records held.
Food traceability is becoming increasing important. The global food supply chain today has evolved into a tangled web. The pathway from primary production to the consumer is growing more complex as companies seek higher efficiencies to feed the world's growing population. While problems remain rare, when they do occur, time is the enemy as current traceability systems struggle to respond. Health and lives are at stake, as well as the livelihoods of industries, companies, and employees.
In the USA the 3,000 deaths that foodborne illness causes each year, is very expensive. The cost of food poisoning comes to $14 billion a year, according to a July 2012 study published in the Journal of Food Protection, including the medical expenses of the 128,000 who are hospitalized annually. That figure does not include the millions of dollars that each food recall costs a company involved, the legal expenses from victims' lawsuits or losses incurred by other companies when consumers hear, for example, about contaminated produce and then avoid that entire commodity, including that which is perfectly safe. Government regulators are increasingly concerned about the time taken to respond to food-related emergencies, as consumer trust in food becomes more fragile.
However, food traceability is about more than recalls. Food fraud is becoming a very important issue. It is estimated that food fraud costs the global food industry over $15 billion annually and the cost is rapidly rising. Being able to ascertain the origin of products and their attributes from the farm through food processing, to retail and food service, and into the home is growing in importance. Increasingly, public health concerns are demanding traceability. But economic advantage, which rewards those who can more effectively and reliably track and trace product back and forth through each step of the chain, will eventually drive traceability.
Improved food traceability will benefit: (a) the FDA by reducing the resources required to complete an investigation; (b) public health since reduction of the duration of investigation of food related illnesses is key to the containment of an outbreak, and; (c) the industry, by facilitating the ability to isolate the source and extent of safety and/or quality control issues and minimizing the scope of product to be recalled and the time to execute a recall as well as all associated liabilities.
Food traceability today entails a complex system of hand offs along the supply chain from producer to packer, distributor, retailer and ultimately the consumer. Product identification is applied most often to the packaging. In most instances when a consumer detects product contamination or symptoms of illness, it may be days or weeks after the purchase date. Packaging (shrink wrap, bags, etc.) or product identification may not exist or have been discarded. Given the time elapsed, the product implicated may well have completed its cycle through the supply chain.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved system and method for tracing food products throughout the supply chain.